Lillian Otto NEW BRIGHTON– The Hopewell Girls Volleyball team traveled to New Brighton on Thursday to face section opponent New Brighton.
Hopewell got off to a hot start in the first set with big serving runs from Lahna Murray and Brianna Inderelst followed up with great defense to lead the Vikings to a 25-9 set 1 victory.
In the 2nd set, Hopewell started fast again with a big serving run by Bella Ceccerali. The Lions played better in the middle of the set, putting together a scrappy comeback to get within 4 points at 18-14. Hopewell re-grouped though and finished the set strong winning 25-18.
The 3rd set was competitive early, as New Brighton did all they could to try and hang with this talented squad. Ultimately though, the Vikings ended up pulling away, which started with a great serving run by Addison Davis and was followed up by some great kills from Inderelst and Murray to come out on top with a score of 25-14. Hopewell improves to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the section.
My shoutouts of the game are Lahna Murray, as her serving and front court presence on offense and defense was very visible tonight, Bella Ceccareli, as her setting was once again on point which gave the Hopewell hitters many opportunities to score and Brianna Inderelst who played an all-around great game with her serving, accurate passing, great kills and even a block tonight.
Here is the recap of each set:
Set 1:
1-0 Hopewell on the board first with a New Brighton error
2-1 Marina Pinchotti pass to Bella Ceccarelli finished by a Lahna Murray kill
4-2 MiKayla Kurta with a kill off another Ceccarelli set
7-2 Brianna Inderelst with a beautiful kill that catches the back line
9-2 Kurta hammers another kill. Murray with 5 straight serve points.
11-3 Tessa Burgess with a great back row pass to an Addison Davis set where Sky Ross finishes the kill
13-3 Kurta with another kill.
14-3 McDowell slams a return for a point.
16-3 Inderelst with an ace, 7 straight points off her serve.
18-3 Inderelst keeps the offense rolling
20-6 Ceccarelli with a flip shot into the middle
21-7 Teigen Murray with a nice cross court kill
22-7 A great defensive rally where Hopewell gets the point
24-9 Lahna Murray with a great kill off a Davis pass to a Ceccarelli set
25-9 Sky Ross with a kill to finish off set 1
Set 2:
1-1 Hopewell on the board with a Murray kill.
4-1 Murray with another strong kill
5-1 Ceccarelli with an ace
6-1 Avery Boyd with a kill. 6 straight points on Ceccarelli serve.
9-4 Kurta sends a NB return back for a point
10-4 Kurta flips an impressive set from Ceccarelli to the middle
13-7 Addison Davis with an ace
16-9 McDowell with back-to-back serves for points
17-9 Murray with a cross court kill to avoid the block
18-14 A serve error stops a New Brighton run
19-14 A nice read by Davis off the rafters saves a point
20-15 Murray almost drives a hit through the New Brighton passer.
21-15 Inderelst with a block
22-15 Boyd with a kill off sets from Kurta and Ceccarelli
23-15 Murray with back-to-back aces
25-18 Ceccarelli sneaks a set over into the middle to win set 2
Set 3:
1-0 Hopewell on the board off a McDowell serve
2-0 Murray flips a return to the middle for a point
3-0 Inderelst with a nice kill on a cross court set from Ceccarelli
5-2 Inderelst with another kill on a beautiful back set from Ceccarelli
8-4 Murray with an ace that just cries over the net
10-5 Inderelst serves and New Brighton returns it long
12-9 A NB serve error ends a 4-point run
14-9 Davis with back-to-back aces
16-9 Hopewell back on track now with 2 more Davis serve points
17-11 Inderelst with 2 great saves during the rally to win the point
18-11 McDowell with an ace
19-11 Marina Pinchotti with a pass to Ceccarelli that Murray just gets over the net for a kill
21-13 Ceccarelli with a serve causing a NB error
22-13 Murray hammers a kill
23-13 Davis with a great down ball for a kill
24-13 Inderelst with a kill to force match point
25-13 A New Brighton error off a Murray serve ends the match.
Hopewell returns home next week for a pair of section games vs Freedom on Tuesday 9/16 and Aliquippa on Thursday 9/18, looking to keep their early season momentum going.
Earlier in the evening, Hopewell’s JV team improved their season record to 5-1, though the job did take 3 sets tonight to complete.
Set 1 – Hopewell 25 / New Brighton 14
Set 2 – Hopewell 22 / New Brighton 25
Set 3 – Hopewell 15 / New Brighton 8
Here is recap of the JV sets:
Set 1:
1-1 Hopewell on the board with a New Brighton error
3-1 Tiegen Murray with back-to-back aces
5-2 Jiselle Cain with a kill
8-3 Madeline Earley with a kill off a Murray set from a Liliana Katcher pass
10-5 Addison Blosnick with a kill off a Bella Cipolla set
12-8 Lily Oldham with a nice kill to stop a New Brighton run
13-8 Abby Babinsack with an ace
15-9 Murray with a kill
16-10 Cain with a kill to the back right corner
21-11 Tessa Burgess serves for 5 straight points
23-12 Cipolla with an ace
25-14 Blosnick places a kill in the back left corner to end Set 1
Set 2:
1-4 Earley with a kill to stop an early New Brighton 4-0 start
2-6 Blosnick with a strong hit forcing a New Brighton error
3-11 New Brighton with back-to-back aces to stretch their lead
5-13 Babinsack with a kill
5-16 New Brighton continuing a strong Set 2
6-17 Babinsack bumps one over into the middle
7-17 Babinsack with a kill
10-18 Hopewell with 3 straight points off Murray serve
14-19 Hopewell getting back into the game off Addison Pavlisko serves
15-19 Blosnick with a nice cross court kill
16-19 Pavlisko with an ace
18-21 Tessa Burgess with an ace
20-23 New Brighton with a long serve to keep Hopewell in reach
21-24 Babinsack with a good placement shot
22-24 Hopewell gets back within 2 points off Cici Smetana serves
22-25 New Brighton wins Set 2
Set 3:
1-1 Oldham with a beautiful cross court kill that catches the line
3-1 Murray with back-to-back aces
4-2 Oldham with another kill
5-3 Burgess with a great dig that finds the floor
6-4 A good read on a serve that misses left
7-4 Babinsack with a kill off a Murray set
8-5 Blosnick with a hammer of a kill off a beautiful Murray set
10-6 A good defensive read on a New Brighton return
11-6 Oldham with another kill
13-6 Cain stuffs a block
14-8 Hopewell reaches match point
15-8 Hopewell wins the match on a nice tip over by Cain forcing an error
